It Comes to Claim
by NerdInPajamas
Summary: After giving birth to Henry in prison Emma's death is faked and she's picked up by Division. Ten years later she's made a Guardian to one of Percy's black boxes and relocates to Storybrooke, a town she does not so much find as stumble into on her way to her actual destination. Eventual Swan Queen. Rated T cause idk, shit happens.


**Disclaimer: These characters and these two shows aren't mine. But did you know that Kalinda Vazquez works on both of them? And that they're both on Netflix? And that theoretically there are about 50 million planets in our galaxy that can support life? It's true. But anyway.**

**A/N: ****Nikita/OUaT crossover where after giving birth to Henry in prison Emma's death is faked and she's picked up by Division to become a black ops agent for the government. Years later she's made a Guardian to one of Percy's black boxes and relocates to Storybrooke, a town she does not so much find as stumble into on her way to her actual destination. There she happens to meet Henry, a boy who had a mother whose name was also Emma but who died in prison ten years ago. While laying low she tries to become closer to the boy she believes to be the son she gave up all those years ago, and the mother who's raised him ever since and seems hell bent on driving her away. Eventual Swan Queen. AU in that I'm not sure yet whether or not the curse exists, but there's definitely something wonky about the town.**

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Emma had driven up and down this stretch of interstate looking for Exit 102 for the past three hours, the sun drooping lower and lower over her windshield until she gave up entirely and turned into the closest turnoff she saw: an unmarked and curling strip of asphalt that rose up into the Maine mountains and showed little sign of leading anywhere at all. She maneuvered the car around sharp bend after pothole, an apprehension weighing in her lungs as it became more and more difficult to navigate. It didn't take much before she was tempted to turn back, but by then another hour had passed and the thought of making her way back down the dangerous road she'd already traveled with even weaker natural light seemed more dangerous than carrying on forward, so she kept on. Up and up into the country with trees pressing high at her sides, her headlights cutting through a fog that made the mid-afternoon look like midnight.

Eventually, mercifully, the road straightened out and broadened into a two-lane road that could actually fit two cars at the same time, and she expelled a breath and slumped in relief as she passed a town sign.

'Welcome to Storybrooke' the sign said, no mention of the population or what it was famous for, no date of establishment or recent little league awards on its enameled surface, and that alone brought back the disquiet in her gut. She'd been beginning to think that tonight would end with her driving off a cliff, which would be purely unacceptable, seeing as her sole duty was to stay alive and protect Percy's black box at all costs, but right then her mind wandered to far worse things that could happen in a small isolated town off an exit with no number with fog creeping in.

She shook the horror movie scenarios out of her head as she rode into the town proper, rolling down her windows to let the late afternoon breeze in and get a better gist of the town around her.

It definitely wasn't big. No buildings except a clock tower in the distance towered more than a couple stories, and every shop had a whimsical, earthy name that made Emma's sweet tooth ache.

She stopped the car beside a small park on the east side of town to search the internet for Storybrooke and any hotels that were nearby, but not only was the connection down to one bar, but searching for Storybrooke, Maine came up completely blank. Some rivers that ran through the state and a few urban legends, but no town. It was unsettling. She blew a hard sigh out as she cranked the car back into gear, thoughts focused so completely on the absurdity of finding a town that somehow didn't exist that she didn't notice the soccer ball sailing through her car window until it hit her in the face.

"Sorry!" a child's voice yelled from the park adjacent. A boy with bowl-cut brown hair ran to the driver's side, a smile fixed to his face.

"No problem, kid." she said, blinking dots out of her eyes. The ball had rolled under the passenger seat and she bent to retrieve it.

"You're not from here." he said, with the abrupt severity that only children can muster. Emma fought the grim frown that was trying to creep onto her face. If a kid noticed in the span of half a minute that she didn't belong, then how many people had noticed her rolling through town already? She needed to get directions and leave as soon as possible.

"No, I'm not." she said and smiled as she turned back to him. "Just lost."

"I'm Henry." he said. He stuck out his hand and she took it, and the easy, lop-sided smile returned to him. "I don't meet new people that often."

"Hi, Henry." She shook his hand quickly. She was already looking around for a place that may be open. It was Sunday afternoon and all the buildings on the block were dark, and the boy beside her seemed to be the only one around, now that she thought about it.

"What's your name?" he asked after a pause.

"Uh, Emma." she said distractedly, turning the car back on.

"Oh, cool, my mom's name is Emma."

"Awesome."

"Well - was Emma. She died."

And that made her peer back at him. She didn't dare ask him how old he was. Instead she kept a level tone as she said, "Well, I'm sorry to hear that. Listen kid - Henry - I should be -"

"Henry!" a woman shrieked as she ran toward them. "Get away from there!" She was clearly in a panic, eyes wide and short, dark hair bobbing and arms flailing as she jogged toward them as fast she could, her heels sticking in the grass as she crossed from the park's path to the sidewalk. Emma passed the soccer ball back to Henry, and he would have started back toward the woman had she not already begun crushing him in an embrace.

"Mooom." he muffled through the fabric of her coat. "I'm not a baby. Let go." His mother let go only to pull him behind her. Emma was momentarily taken aback by the ferocity in the mother's eyes as she stared her down.

"No worries, ma'am." Emma smiled. "His soccer ball landed in my car is all. Kid's got quite a kick on him."

If looks could kill she'd be hanging from the nearest street light by now.

The woman gave her a hard glare before turning her attentions back to the boy at her side. "It's about time we got home, dear."

"Okay." he said, and they walked off together down the street without another word, both taking sneaking glances back when they thought the other wouldn't notice. She kept watch of them from her periphery, thinking to herself that in general, the whole affair could have gone better. She also wondered how old the boy was, and if he could be hers.

When she'd given her son up for adoption ten years ago she hadn't expected to ever see him again. When Division faked her death - put down on record as a prison suicide while in solitary - and recruited her into their ranks the probability of them meeting became as near to zilch as possible, and she'd given up on the dream entirely. He looked the right age, or was she deluding herself? There were no doubt thousands of Emma's in the world. Who knew how many could have died and left behind a baby boy with brown hair ten years ago?

It was irrational to entertain the possibility that this Henry was hers. And yet she sat there until the two disappeared around the corner, and stayed there still lost in thought until her phone rang and cut through the silence. _Shit_, she thought upon seeing whose number it was. Answering the phone with one hand, she put the car in gear with the other and started down the road. "Percy, hi."

"Your tracker signal's jamming." he cut to the chase.

"It's funny you say that, because none of my equipment is getting much of a signal either." she said, peering again at the one bar on the Division-issued cell phone that was supposed get a perfect signal anywhere in the world.

"Have you reached your destination?" he asked, and she wondered if there was someone else in the room with him to cause him to be so cryptic.

"No, actually. I got lost." she said. "The town I'm in isn't even on GPS."

"That's really interesting."

There was a warning in his statement that she tried to decipher and failed. "So I'm going to stay the night and move on to... the destination."

"No, no." Percy said, a thinking tone in his voice, like he was looking at a map and looking for the best route to take. "It's fine. Just stay where you are. Perhaps moving locations so abruptly will work out for the best."

"Sir, yessir." Emma said sarcastically, parking across the street from the first thing that resembled a hotel, a bed and breakfast with an English cottage motif and stained glass windows. She knew better than to ask the Director if he was sure about his decisions, the most common consequences often being extremely inconvenient and quite painful. It was a given that despite his uncertain tone he had already made up his mind and saw something that she most certainly did not, and that made her feel both relieved at being able to stay and nervous about not knowing why he'd acquiesced.

"Don't be a kiss ass." he snarled.

"Right" she said. She tapped the End Call button and sat back. Smiling, resolving not to look a gift horse in the mouth, she shut the car off and climbed out, stretching her hands to the sky and bending down to press her palms flat against the ground on either side of her feet. She took the backpack that held her clothes and the briefcase that held the black box from the backseat and paced across the street, a cold wind rising as the stars began to appear in the dark blue sky above.

Half-broken and dying potted plants sat on either side of the door, and the place was badly in need of repair. The door groaned as it opened, jamming midway on rusted hinges and leaving her to squeeze the rest of the way through. Shouting could be heard the next room over, apathetic to the ringing of the bell beside the door, and it wasn't until she slammed it shut that the voices cut off.

Two women hurried around the corner and stopped just short of the threshold. The nearest was an older woman in her seventies. If not for the words that had been coming out of her mouth not more than seconds before Emma would describe her as grandmotherly, because from the floor-length downy dress to the glasses sitting on the tip of her nose that's how she looked. The other was a few years younger than Emma, with red-streaked brown hair and a wide mouth painted dark and sanguine. The charged distance between them spoke of a divorcement that was not likely to ease any time soon.

"Good evening,"Emma said looking from one to the other. "I'd like to rent a room?"

Apparently this warranted further pause. This clearly was not an everyday occurrence.

While the younger stared in shock the older woman jumped into action, bustling behind the podium for the accounting book, all of the sardonicism in her voice from before replaced by a cheery, disbelieving desperation. "Of course, dear! Would you like a forest view or a square view? Usually there's an upgrade fee for the square - but as there aren't any, um, occupants - I'll waive it."

"A square view would be nice." she smiled. The younger slipped to her side in a flash, extending a warm hand and a doe-eyed disposition. Emma took it with just an ounce of uncertainty.

"Nice to meet you.'' she said "I'm Ruby."

"Oh here she goes." the older woman muttered, voice returning to the tone it had held before Emma had come in. "Pay her no mind. She'll latch onto anyone who gives her the slightest bit of attention."

Emma fought a wince at the older woman's words as Ruby sniffed and stalked out the front door. It jerked shut with squeal and they were left in a silence that the older woman was quick to cover. "Now, as this is Granny's Bed and Breakfast, you can feel free to call me Granny." she said. She rummaged in the space under the podium before handing over a room key with an iron key chain of a swan on a trellis attached. "You'll be in Room 43."

"Thanks." she said, readjusting the backpack on one shoulder before taking the key.

"It says breakfast on the sign, but you look peaky." Granny said. "You go put your bags in your room and freshen up and I'll have some food for you within the half hour."

She nodded and started up the stairs. Slightly dazed and more than a little embarrassed about waltzing right into the middle of a doubtless age old spat between the two women, she treaded the stairs as quietly as possible out of habit, her mind flashing for a second to her old training days in the underground Division base, of toe-stepping over tenuous pressure-sensing floors with a laser gun clenched tight in her hands, yet another "game" that the students were graded on more than they knew.

She let the memory slip away as she unlocked the door to her room, dropping her backpack in the chair by the door and placing the briefcase in the space between the headboard and the mattress. After putting her phone on the charger and changing into a shirt that didn't stank of the stale coffee and soy sauce she'd spilled on it during the drive, she walked to the window and nudged the curtains aside to look out over the square.

It was certainly a picturesque town, though the people she had met so far who lived in it were characters in their own right. An orange moon hung over the broken clock tower across the square, pulsing the seconds that the clock's hands could not, and at such an absurd thought - ticking moons - Emma yawned and retreated to the room's door.

Tonight she would rest and, tomorrow she would look for a bank with safety deposit boxes and a rear exit, and for now she would eat and come up with a cover story. A town this small needed a good one.

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_A/N: I hope this introductory chapter didn't bore you. It probably did. Sorry. I'm so excited about this, random stranger, you wouldn't believe. Though I have vague snapshots of where it will go, I don't have everything laid out, and the suspense is thrilling for me. I hope you've enjoyed this kind of introductory chapter, and I hope that you read on to the next, and I hope your day is/has gone by well. Yeah._


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